


In search of the moon

by Ajalea



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, Ballet!Yuri, Cute, Inspired by Art, Inspired by Fanart, M/M, Makkachin Lives, Misunderstandings, Music major!Otabek, OtaYuri Reverse Bang 2017, Reverse Big Bang Challenge, Victuuri is married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-03 00:43:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10956150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ajalea/pseuds/Ajalea
Summary: Otabek has arrived in a new city to study there. One of the first things he does is striking up a conversation with the infamous Yuri Plisetsky. After a rough start, they become friends and there's a chance their frail relationship could turn into something else. Otabek has a surprise for Yuri, but it goes horribly wrong and it's up to Otabek to fix it.Meanwhile Yuri is preparing for a big recital coming up and somehow manages to include Otabek in the whole thing.Part of the Otayuri Reverse Bang. Art is included!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Scheisse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scheisse/gifts).



> First of all, a huuuuuuuge thanks to the [crying-on-ice](http://crying-on-ice.tumblr.com) who made the art that inspired this fic! This fic is for you :D I couldn't have done this without you.  
> Second, much love to my beta, [JackOfPanTrades](http://archiveofourown.org/users/JackOfPanTrades), and all the people who helped me with motivation, inspiration and all the general questions. You know who you are ;) I love you guys to the moon and back~ 
> 
> For those who want to have a little bit of fun while reading, I've put a few references in this fic (6 or 7 I believe) and I'm curious if anyone can guess them all haha (good luck!)
> 
> Enjoy and please consider leaving kudos/a comment ^^

Otabek stood near the entrance of the lecture hall and he looked up at rows and rows of seats. It had taken a little too long for him to find this particular room, so most of the seats were already taken, in particular those at the sides. His entrance for his first lecture here in Detroit wouldn’t be a subtle one.

Otabek sighed to himself. His eye fell on someone sitting in the exact middle, looking grumpily ahead, with empty seats all around him.

Much to his own surprise, Otabek knew exactly who he was. He had heard stories from other students about him in the week he had been here already. The Russian Yuri Plisetsky, a genius when it came to ballet and who’d won numerous prizes before even turning eighteen, was not someone people usually approached and everyone avoided him at all cost if they could help it. It had something to do with his icy personality, or so Otabek had heard. He didn’t know how much of those rumors were actually true.

At this particular moment, Otabek didn’t really give a fuck about Yuri’s infamous reputation and since he had kept the best seats available, Otabek ignored the stares he got from other students as he sat down next to Yuri. From what Otabek could see, Yuri appeared to be small, maybe even shorter than him – and Otabek wasn’t tall to begin with. He had thin, frail-looking arms and a small torso, hidden by a checkered red and black dress shirt over a black t-shirt. Yuri’s blond hair, which hid most of his face, was partly help up in a tiny ponytail.

Yuri didn’t even spare him a glance and just continued to stare ahead at the blackboard until the lecture began. What he also didn’t do was take out his notebook or laptop to take notes. Otabek, on the other hand, had come fully prepared and took out a brand-new notebook along with his favorite pen.

A man – obviously the professor – entered the lecture hall, took his place in front of the blackboard and started up the computer. As with most professors and teachers, he had some trouble with it. He looked to be in his forties, and with his long hair in a ponytail and sports jacket, he didn’t look like the stereotypical professor.

“Good morning everyone!” He said with the hint of an Italian accent. Without much trouble, his voice easily reached even the students in the back. “My name is Celestino Cialdini, though Celestino will do just fine! I will be your lecturer for this class and you will hear me talking about twentieth and twenty-first century composers, their accomplishments and what makes them so important. I hope all of you will enjoy your time here as much as I will.” He cleared his throat. “Now then, I’ll first talk a bit about the syllabus and then we’ll get started on our first subject, which will have an important role in your final essays, namely what divides classical music from movie soundtracks and the like. First things first, have any of you ever heard of…”

During the first half of the lecture, which was very interesting according to Otabek, Yuri didn’t show any sign he was actually listening to what Celestino said. Yuri couldn’t have looked more bored, and with his head leaning on his hand, not bothering to move for 45 minutes, he clearly wasn’t trying to hide it.

Otabek saw his first chance to talk to Yuri during the fifteen-minute break and he took it. After Celestino announced the break, Yuri sped off and returned with a hot drink that smelled really sweet. He returned to the same position he had held prior to the break while sipping his drink. Due to Yuri’s hairstyle, Otabek couldn’t see his eyes when he glanced at him.

“Hey, I’m Otabek,” he began, even though he already knew Yuri’s name.

“I don’t care.” Yuri refused to even look at him.

“What’s your major?” Otabek tried again, knowing the answer to that question too. He wondered if Yuri knew about his reputation.

“None of your business.”

Otabek, getting a little disheartened, decided to ask one last thing. “How did you get here?”

Yuri’s head turned so that Otabek could make out an eye behind the blond hair. “I used my feet,” he said in a deadpan voice.

Otabek smiled, glad he wasn’t talking to a sarcastic wall. “Let me rephrase. Why are you at this lecture?”

“I made a mistake.”

“The mistake of being here?”

Yuri huffed. “The mistake of signing up for this lecture.”

“You can leave, you know.”

“Mila’s going to kill me if I do.”

Otabek didn’t know who Mila was. “A friend?”

That made Yuri laugh. “She’s just someone I know.”

The professor reentered the room and signaled that everyone was to return to their seats, as the lecture would continue soon.

Otabek really hoped to get some real answer out of Yuri. “You haven’t answered my question yet.”

“Which one?”

“About your major.”

“You sure you don’t want my name first?”

Otabek chuckled. “I’ve heard some rumors. You’re Yuri.” Although he spoke English, he said Yuri’s name the way a Russian would.

“So you know who I am.” There was it again, Yuri’s eye.

Otabek had to shrug. “Only heard a few rumors, that’s all. So, what is your major?”

Yuri finally turned his head completely. The first thing Otabek noticed was the green that was Yuri’s eyes. “I dance,” he said.

Otabek realized he was staring and turned away. Yuri’s eyes stayed on him for another second until they returned to their original position, looking straight ahead while Celestino resumed his lecture.

The second Celestino finished talking, Yuri was leaving the room. Otabek, who had his stuff spread across his small table, could not follow. With his bag slung over his shoulder, Yuri walked off in a light but fast pace through the exit.

Otabek watched him leave, curious to see how their next conversations would turn out. Maybe it hadn’t been such a bad idea to sit down next to Yuri of all people.


	2. Chapter 2

The second time they met was at the same lecture since they didn’t seem to share any other lectures, Otabek attempted to get another conversation out of Yuri, this time about their final assignment. Unfortunately, it didn’t really go as planned and Yuri cussed him out. Badly. Even told Otabek to leave the room and never come near him. All for the sole reason Otabek wanted to have a conversation with him again. Secretly, Otabek blamed the coffee. It appeared that Yuri hadn’t had his hot beverage yet. During the break he went to get it and returned to sit a seat away from Otabek.

Otabek started grabbing his stuff to follow, like a creeper, when Yuri told him not to bother. Otabek replied that he didn’t answer to Yuri, but that he would comply if Yuri really wanted him to. Yuri really wanted him to stay away.

The third time they met each other, Yuri looked at Otabek as Otabek sat down, eyes filled with disbelief, brows furrowed. “I thought I told you to go away last week?”

“You did,” Otabek nodded, who clearly remembered their strained conversation from the week before, “but like I said, I don’t answer to you, so I can do as I please. And, as a matter of fact, I’ve decided to sit here today.” Otabek pointedly sat down next to Yuri. “Have you thought about the final assignment yet? Like I said last week –”

“I won’t work together with you.”

Otabek heard Yuri’s rejection and didn’t seem that bothered about it. “I’m sure you will though.”

Yuri frowned. “And why’s that?”

“Because,” Otabek leaned in conspiringly, “I’m going to bribe you into it.”

Yuri didn’t look so convinced. “Impossible,” he spat out.  

Otabek’s eyes had a mischievous glint to them. “Dare to bet on it?”

“We’ll see,” Yuri sneered, “I’m curious what you’ll come up with.”

“It’s a deal then.” Otabek stood.

“Wait, where are you going?” Yuri asked with the frown still on his face. He looked up to see Otabek not looking back at him and only then noticed the case behind Otabek. “What’s that?”

Otabek turned around and raised one eyebrow mockingly. “Now you’re suddenly interested in me, when I’m carrying my guitar?”

Yuri’s curiosity immediately turned into denial. “Of course not, why would I be?” He huffed and pointed his head towards the blackboard, but kept glancing at Otabek.

“I’ll tell you anyway,” Otabek smiled. “I’m meeting up with a few people, who’re only available during this lecture. The professor doesn’t mind me skipping this week because I could prove I’ve done my readings for this week and the next.”

Yuri fake-coughed and said something that sounded a lot like ‘smartass’.

Otabek slung the strap of the case over his shoulder. “I also told him you promised to take notes for me,” he added.

Yuri showed the deepest scowl. “No way that I’d ever do that for you.”

“Which is exactly what he said. Don’t worry, I’m not expecting anything from you.” With a wave, Otabek left Yuri alone. Before exiting the room, he walked up to the professor and exchanged a few words with him. Celestino laughed shortly and clapped Otabek on the shoulder, who smiled back.

As he didn’t look back, Otabek never saw Yuri begrudgingly grab an empty notebook and a pen, both of which just happened to be in his bag, to take notes for him. The dude seemed nice and maybe Yuri could use it as a small peace offering. If he wanted his notes, he would get his notes.

Yuri thought about Otabek while sitting at his desk in his dorm, chewing on the back of his pen. Worse, he couldn’t get him out of his head. As short and random (and angry) their conversations had been, Yuri couldn’t say he disliked Otabek. The guy seemed like the cool, collected type and, despite his kind of annoying questions, he never came across as too intrusive. Not yet anyway. Yuri actually felt quite comfortable next to him and he had to admit that was pretty rare. How that had happened with someone he had only met three times, he had no idea.

Unknown to Otabek, Yuri had already accidentally called Otabek a friend in one of his conversations with Yuuri. Between Yuuri and Victor, Yuuri was the sneaky one who could often find ways to make Yuri say things he didn’t want to say. One of those things had been the news that Yuri had decided to study abroad. After Yuuri had found out, he promised Yuri that he would act surprised alongside Victor and he had. At least he knew how to keep a secret. Victor, on the other hand, could not. Once you told him something, you’d better be prepared for the whole world to know it too.

Yuuri had teased him about it too, about Yuri’s first friend in Detroit, despite having been there for more than a year. Yuri had tried to shrug off that fact, but he knew how true it was. He hadn’t minded having no friends in a city he wouldn’t permanently live in and he already had plenty of them at home, so he never bothered. Then Otabek appeared. Having Otabek next to him was more calming than Yuri would have thought and instead of finding it annoying, Yuri took pleasure in having Otabek around. If Yuri didn’t complain as much, maybe Otabek wouldn’t mind meeting him more often. Although… considering Otabek was the one who had approached him three out of three times, maybe he really wouldn’t mind.

He came to the realization that, no matter what stupid thing Otabek would come up with to convince him to work together, he’d say yes anyway. Anything to get to know him better. Now it was a game of how far he could push the guy.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the biggest problem for Yuri at that moment. He was staring at his notebook, now with the first four pages filled with incomprehensible scribbles.

Yuri groaned. He really tried to be a nice person for once and it had resulted in _this_. As much as he tried, Yuri couldn’t read his own handwriting and he had even more trouble remembering what Celestino had talked about. That man was impossible to follow sometimes. Yuri couldn’t understand for the life of him how Otabek found him interesting to listen to. Yuri would die of boredom if he tried to pay attention for more than ten minutes.

Giving up, Yuri closed the notebook and put it away in his bag to give it to Otabek the first chance he got. For a second, Yuri wondered if Otabek would thank him for useless notes, but laughed at the thought. He would probably mock him for his shitty handwriting, just like all the others had made fun of him. Yuri had never mentioned it to anyone, not even to Yuuri, but it had been one of the reasons he chose to study abroad.


	3. Chapter 3

Yuri was in luck. The very next day – a Wednesday – he saw Otabek walking on campus when he returned from ballet practice and approached him before he knew what he was doing.

To say Otabek was surprised to see him was an understatement.

Yuri came to a halt a few feet away from him.

“Hey,” Otabek greeted him, “what are you doing here?”

Yuri opened his mouth to say something about their meeting being a coincidence, which it was, but decided against it. He looked around, checking if anyone he knew was close to them. No one was paying attention to either him or Otabek, but still Yuri couldn’t shake the feeling someone was watching him. It was the paranoia of having lived with Victor for a while. That man was everywhere. “Can we talk? Somewhere more private?”

Otabek nodded and resumed walking, gesturing to Yuri to go along. “Come on, let’s get a drink. I know the perfect place.”

Yuri followed him, not saying a word, but keeping an eye out for anyone who might look in his direction.

They ended up in a café on the edge of campus, across the street from the main college building. It was filled with fellow students, as customers and employees and the whole café had a nice vibe to it. Yuri had to admit it was at least a little perfect. He had only been here to get his daily coffee, but never took the time to stay.

Otabek sat Yuri down in a corner while he got the both of them a drink. When he returned, Yuri mumbled a soft thanks.

Yuri’s face lit up when he took his first sip. “How did you know what to get me?”

“The barista was very helpful,” Otabek smiled warmly, probably because Yuri didn’t sound pissed off for the first time. “She also said you like the chocolate donuts.” He slid the packaged donut over to Yuri.

Yuri picked it up and unwrapped the donut. “I don’t like them, I love them.” He took a bite and hummed in pleasure.

“So, to what do I owe this pleasure? Or is it possible you already want to work on that final assignment with me?” Otabek asked with a grin.

“No way,” Yuri said too soon, spitting little pieces of donut across the table.

Otabek carefully backed away. “What is it then?” He asked with a more serious voice.

“I, uh, I have to give you something.” Yuri looked away when he said it.

“Oh?” Otabek’s eyebrows rose.

Yuri rummaged through his bag until he found what he was looking for. “Here.” He pushed it into Otabek’s hands. “I tried, but I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to read it. I’ve never had legible handwriting.”

Curious, Otabek opened the notebook and started reading. “Actually,” he said as he scanned the pages, “this is pretty useful.”

“Really?” Yuri didn’t believe him.

Otabek nodded. “Yeah, even if it’s written in Russian, I can understand –”

He had no time to finish what he was saying, because Yuri snatched the notebook from his hands to look at it himself. Otabek was right, Yuri had written his notes in his native language. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

Otabek laughed. “It’s nothing to worry about. Russian is my second language,” he said, in fluent Russian.

Yuri stared at him. “I’m impressed,” he replied using the same language. He relaxed a little more in his seat, holding his drink with both hands and regaining some of his confidence. He missed speaking in his mother tongue. Yuri had mastered English before coming to Detroit, but there was nothing like Russian. “Where are you from?” His curiosity got the better of him.

Otabek seemed happy to answer. He took a sip from his own drink before he answered. “Almaty, originally, though I haven’t been home the past few years.”

“Almaty? Where’s that? I know it’s not in Russia.”

“It’s in Kazakhstan. Almaty is its former capital actually.”

Yuri, delighted he could speak Russian again to someone after more than a year of solely English, bombarded Otabek with questions one after the other, about Kazakhstan, Almaty, and a whole lot more.

Otabek, on his part, seemed happy to oblige and answer every question that came his way and fired some of his own back to Yuri. One of the questions Yuri received was a repetition of one Otabek had asked before, namely why Yuri had enrolled for his shared lecture with Otabek.

“I’m officially a student here,” Yuri answered the question finally, “and if I don’t take the minimum amount of classes, I can’t stay here. That lecture was the only one that had something to do with music, so I picked it. When I found out what it was about, it was too late for me to pick something else, so here we are.”

Together, they talked like for what felt like minutes, maybe half an hour tops, but turned out to be many hours. Yuri’s hot drink had gotten cold long before either of them noticed. His donut had been eaten very quickly in between talking.

“Listen,” Otabek reverted back to English without a problem, checking out the darkening sky outside the café, “I’ve thought about how I can bribe you to work together with me. Do you know the Care Bears?”

Yuri nodded. “I’ve heard of them. From what I’ve heard of them, they’re really popular.”

“If you promise to work together with me, I can give you a ticket to their next concert.”

“No, you can’t.”

Otabek frowned. “Why’s that?”

“Because it’s obvious there are no more tickets available to a concert that’s in two weeks,” Yuri answered. “Nobody tells me anything and even I know it.”

Otabek smiled knowingly and pulled something from his pocket. It was a ticket. “Still don’t believe me?”

“You’ve got to be shitting me.” Yuri was more than surprised.

“Would you like to go?”

Yuri took one long look at Otabek to see if he was making fun of him. “Of course, I want to know what all the fuss is about. Plus, I’m curious if they’re as good as everyone claims they are.”

“Do we have a deal then?”

Yuri had trouble taking his eyes off the ticket. “I guess we do.”

“Alright, that’s settled then.” Otabek gave Yuri the ticket and grabbed his jacket, which he’d slung over the back of the chair next to him. “Will you be on campus tomorrow too?”

Yuri thought for a second. “Don’t think so.” He put the ticket away in a book that was in his bag for safekeeping.

“Can I get your number then? We could meet up again so I can return your notebook.”

“You can keep that notebook for all I care.”

Otabek looked down on him in the most disapproving way. “If you’re going to be my partner in this, I expect you to start taking notes from next lecture onwards. And you’re getting your notebook back.”

Yuri’s face soured and he leaned back in his chair. “So much for having someone do all the work for me so I’d pass this stupid class.”

“I fully intend to do all the work,” Otabek assured him, “I just want you to act like you care and maybe you’ll even write down something I’ve missed.”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “I’ll try.”

“Those are the magic words.” Otabek gave Yuri his phone. “Can you enter your number?”

Yuri did as asked without a complaint – which was a first. He returned the phone to Otabek.

“Thanks. I’ll text you tonight about returning your notebook, okay?”

Yuri waved him away. “Yeah sure.”

Otabek returned the wave less grumpy and left Yuri alone.

Yuri gathered his things, all the while wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into.

After that afternoon, Yuri often found himself in the presence of Otabek. At first, they met up every few days; sometimes to discuss their final project, which Otabek wanted to finish before the others had started, but always to talk to each other. Their subjects would vary from simple gossip to Otabek’s favorite composers and why he was majoring in music, to Otabek’s family in Kazakhstan and the weird bunch of people Yuri called family back in Russia.

Yuri especially enjoyed ranting about the flamboyant way Victor liked to handle things, including the way he had managed to hook up with his Japanese husband. Otabek listened more than he talked and both were perfectly fine with that. Once Yuri had opened up a bit, he was able to tell stories nonstop and Otabek rather enjoyed that side of him.

Not soon after that, they saw each other almost every day, even if it was just for ten minutes between lectures. Nearly every day, Otabek would have practice one of the many instruments he played. If that practice was after Yuri’s last lecture, he would wait for Otabek, so he could walk him to his bus.

At one point, they decided the campus café was getting too expensive for their frequent visits and Yuri invited Otabek to his room while his roommate was out.

During one of those visits, just as Yuri was showing Otabek some pictures of his cat back in Russia on his laptop, he received a video call from Victor. Without thinking, Yuri accepted the call, and Victor and Yuuri came into view.

“Yurio! Long time no see.” Victor waved at him, smiling broadly. He spoke Russian and Yuuri, who sat next to him, followed his words closely to understand them.

“Hi.” Yuri put up his most disinterested face as he responded in the same language.

Victor’s eye fell on Otabek, sitting next to Yuri. “Oh? Who’s your friend? I hope we’re not interrupting something.” He added with a suggestive smirk.

“You’re always interrupting.” Yuri couldn’t recount _all_ the times Victor had the talent to barge in at inappropriate times. This wasn’t him being difficult about it, it was true.

Otabek sat there awkwardly, waiting for his time to speak. “I’m Otabek. You must be Victor.”

“That’s me~ Has Yurio been talking about me?”

Otabek clearly struggled with an answer. “He’s mentioned you once or twice,” was what he decided on.

“I hope he’s been saying nothing but positive things about me, or else –”

“Guys,” Yuuri interrupted him, speaking Russian slowly, with an accent, “Could you either talk slower or switch languages? I’m having trouble following Victor, he’s talking too fast again.”

“Your pronunciation has improved since last time we spoke,” Yuri commented casually, in English.

Yuuri bowed his head slightly. “Thank you. Mila has been helping me in her spare time.”

“I hope you know Mila doesn’t do anything for free.” Yuri shuddered at the memory of owing Mila something. He didn’t want to owe her anything at any cost again.

“Actually, she was the one who owed _me_ something.”

Yuri pulled a face. “Don’t tell me, I’m not interested.”

Yuuri simply laughed and looked from Yuri to Otabek. “But where are my manners? I’m Yuuri, Victor’s husband.”

Victor squealed softly, his eyes shining bright when he heard that.

“Nice to meet you.” Otabek nodded to him. “Both of you.”

Yuuri laughed. “The pleasure is all mine. Yurio has told me some great stories about you.”

“I hope nothing but good stories?” Otabek copied from Victor.

“Only the best,” Yuuri assured him.

“Yuuri, do you know him?” Victor was looking confused from one person to the other.

“Nope, never met Otabek before, or spoken to him.” Yuuri sneaked in a wink to Yuri when Victor wasn’t paying attention.

“Why did you call?” Yuri brought the subject back on track before things got derailed even more. “I hope you two had a reason for interrupting us.”

Victor and Yuuri’s smiles disappeared. It was Yuuri who explained. “I’m sorry, but Victor can’t take any time off from his classes and your grandpa can’t fly by himself anymore due to his health. We’re not coming to your performance in February.”

Yuri nodded slowly and looked down, processing that information. “Okay. I guess it can’t be helped then.” He gathered his thoughts. “How about Mila and Georgi?”

“Mila is on her honeymoon around then. She won’t be back until after your performance and Georgi doesn’t have the money to fly to the US.”

“I see.”

“JJ offered to go though,” Victor grinned.

“I’d rather die than have him there,” Yuri scowled.

“Yeah, we thought so. We’ve turned him down for you.”

“Thanks for that. If that’s all, then we have to go. We have a lot of work to do this afternoon.” Yuri didn’t wait for the couple to say their goodbyes, though they tried, and ended the call.

“Was that really okay?” Otabek asked.

Yuri shrugged. “They don’t know any better.”

“Why do they call you ‘Yurio’? Is it to avoid confusion?”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “Yeah, Victor came up with that stupid idea when the three of us were in Japan when he wanted to hook up with that Katsudon. Victor will tell you about that time if you just as much breathe in his direction, so watch it.”

“Duly noted,” Otabek laughed. “Can I call you Yurio too?”

“No.” Yuri shot back immediately. “I don’t want to associate you with Victor all the time.”

“Then, how about Yura? Like a piece of home?”

Yuri had to admit he wouldn’t mind Otabek calling him that. It reminded him of his grandpa a little bit – not that he would tell Otabek that. In fact, he could respond in kind. “I’m okay with that. Beka.”

On the blackened laptop screen, Yuri could see Otabek’s surprise and he smiled.

Otabek returned his smile. “That’s a deal. Yura.”

It was silent for two seconds and then they burst out laughing. The nicknames stayed.


	4. Chapter 4

Yuri was waiting in line for the big show. He looked from the ticket in his hand to the building in front of him for the tenth time. He was indeed at the right place. Otabek had given him specific instructions on how to get there, since it wasn’t close to any of Yuri’s usual spots and had warned him to come early. Yuri had followed his advice. Otabek, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. Otabek had promised to be there and Yuri had assumed he meant _before the concert started_.

Being one of the first people in line, Yuri was able to take a good look at the music venue. It was an old factory building, one of the smaller concert halls in the city, and, looking at the long line behind him, it would be filled up quite nicely.

From people walking past and from those around him, Yuri picked up snippets of excitement. Maybe the Care Bears were as popular as people said.

Yuri resisted the urge to get his phone to check for any messages Otabek might have sent in the past two minutes. Other than a “Where are you?” Yuri hadn’t asked why he wasn’t there yet and despite Otabek’s absence, Yuri gave him the benefit of the doubt. For the moment. Although it was a little irritating, Yuri didn’t want to send more messages and come over as too clingy or annoying.

According to the ticket, it was almost time for the doors to open. Yuri couldn’t wait. He had heard a lot about the Care Bears in his year in Detroit, and rumor had it that they had gotten even better since the start of this academic year. If Otabek hadn’t showed by the time they could go in, Yuri refused to wait for him any longer and forget about him for the night. No one needed people in their lives that ditched friends, not even Otabek.

To waste some time, Yuri looked around him. Even in the lantern light, it was obvious to him most people who had joined him in line were female and were dressed in the same style as Otabek. Getting a little self-conscious, Yuri looked down to see his own outfit. His black leather pants and a black shirt weren’t much in contrast to everyone else’s clothes. A chilly wind swept past him and Yuri closed the front of his purple jacket. He had allowed himself a bit of color in his clothes. Besides, the back of his shirt was fashionably ripped to shreds and the weather absolutely didn’t feel like summer anymore.

Behind him, three girls were discussing which band member they wanted to date and Yuri listened in on them.

“No way, the singer is way cuter than the drummer!” One of the girls claimed. For that statement, one of the other slapped her arm playfully.

“I only have eyes for the guitarist.” The second girl said.

“I agree, Sam, he’s cute too,” the first girl sounded thoughtful.

The third girl shared her thoughts too. “He’s the new guy, right? I heard they let him join because he knows Jamie.”

“The singer? That sounds unfair. I wonder if that’s true.”

One of them made an unconvinced sound. “Surely not? Maybe we could ask him. We have VIP tickets…”

“We should totally ask him for his number. Alex, you can do that too, with what’s-his-name-again.” That was Sam’s voice.

“Scott, his name is Scott,” Alex responded, clearly annoyed Sam couldn’t remember such a simple fact.

“And Jamie too!” The first girl added.

Their chatter quieted down and Yuri wondered to himself how often the band received requests like theirs. His conclusion was it had to be pretty often.

Finally, after a long time of waiting, the doors opened and two men came outside to let everybody in. They scanned everyone’s ticket before letting them through and when it was Yuri’s turn, the guard smiled cheerfully at him.

“You’re in luck, kid, to get one of the VIP tickets.”

Yuri frowned. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Now the guard frowned too. “This ticket, it’s a VIP ticket. It says so on the ticket. You’re allowed backstage after the concert.”

“I didn’t know,” was all Yuri could say. “I got it from a friend.”

“You must be really lucky to have friends like that,” the guard commented.

“I guess.” Yuri was unable to keep the disappointment from his voice.

The guard patted Yuri on his shoulder as he walked past. “I hope you have fun, kid.”

“Thanks,” Yuri told him, and with that he was inside.

There was a small hallway with on one side an unguarded coat rack, on the other side an opening – probably leading to the concert hall itself – and further down the hall a sign leading to the bathrooms. Yuri looked at the still quite empty hallway. No Otabek. He tried to not let it get to him too much and walked straight to the stage in the main room.

The concert hall, including the stage, wasn’t even that big. It could easily fit over two hundred people and Yuri guessed that once everyone had gotten inside, there would barely be any place left to stand.

Ahead of the madness that would follow, Yuri secured a spot for himself in front of the center of the stage, just behind the other fans that had already gathered there. Yuri had come here – on time – after all, so he wanted to get what he had come for. A good show.

The more Yuri tried to push Otabek from his thoughts, the more he seemed to settle in them. With Otabek having broken his promise, Yuri felt sad he was on his own. Almost, he sent a passive aggressive text to Otabek about being on time and keeping promises. He didn’t, knowing he would come to regret that text later. The disappointment stayed though.

Slowly but surely, the crowd grew in numbers and soon the whole hall was buzzing with excitement. It sounded like everyone but Yuri knew exactly what was going to happen and even he could guess most of it: the band would come on the stage, the crowd would scream, they’d play for an hour or so, if they were lucky two hours and then it would be over again.

Only, Yuri wasn’t prepared for the band members. As they appeared one by one under indeed loud screams from the crowd, he was quick to see he had never seen three of the four members before, but the fourth member was someone he knew very well.

Otabek was wearing a white shirt with a black unbuttoned vest and black pants. He looked very classy and Yuri had to compliment their overall black-and-white style. It worked for them.

Otabek was searching the crowd, looking for Yuri probably, and Yuri had to suppress the very urgent need to wave at him amidst the screaming men and women. He didn’t wave.

And they were _good_ , Yuri couldn’t deny it. Unconsciously, Yuri got swept away by the enthusiasm of the people around him and before he knew it, he, too, was dancing along to the Care Bears’ music.

Soon, maybe too soon, it was over. Yuri was surprised he had lost track of time and was more surprised to see the band had been playing for nearly two hours when he checked his phone for the time.

Yuri already turned to leave with the crowd when someone tapped him on his shoulder. He turned around to see three girls he didn’t know by face. Two of them had shorter hair than Yuri, one blond, the other black, while the third one had long red hair. All three were wearing the same shirt, but in a different color, which was a weird choice according to Yuri.

“You’ve got one of them too, don’t you?” The middle (blonde) one asked.

Yuri frowned. “I got one of what?”

“One of these,” she said, showing him her ticket. She also had a VIP ticket.

“I do,” Yuri nodded. He had forgotten about that. “What about it?”

All three girls grinned. “Follow me,” said the right (black-haired) girl and pulled Yuri along through the crowd to a side door.

“We’ve done this before, you see,” the third (redhead) girl explained, “and we simply couldn’t believe you didn’t know you had a VIP ticket.”

“It was a gift, from a friend.” Yuri shrugged.

The second girl rolled her eyes. “We heard, though we found that a little hard to believe, seeing how you couldn’t keep your eyes off the guitarist.”

Yuri flushed bright red, he could feel it. “He’s a friend.” He tried to explain. What else could Otabek be?

The girls shot him an all-knowing look.

“Sure he is.” The blond girl said.

A thought came to mind and Yuri stopped walking, pulling the black-haired girl with him. “Wait. How did you know about my ticket?”

The redhead slung an arm over his shoulder. “We were right behind you, couldn’t miss it even if we wanted to.”

“Oh.” Yuri let himself get pulled along again. “So you are the ones that were discussing who is to date who? I don’t remember your names.”

“I’m Clover,” one of them said, “she’s Alex and she’s Sam.” She pointed at the black-haired girl and the redhead, respectively.

“Yuri.” Yuri said in a way of greeting. In his head, he repeated their names with their faces until he was pretty sure he knew who was who.

“Okay, so this is the plan,” Sam the redhead spoke, mostly to Yuri, who was the only one not aware of the plan yet, “we’re allowed in their room in pairs and we’ve already drawn straws to decide who will go with you, which is her by the way –” she pointed at one of her friends, Alex, “and the best thing about meeting the Care Bears is that you can do whatever you want as long as you don’t make any unwanted advances and stuff.”

Yuri wondered how the fans would know what ‘unwanted’ advances were, but didn’t ask. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

They stopped at a door where another guard was stationed. He asked them to show their VIP tickets and they did.

“We’ll go first, okay?” It was a rhetorical question, because before Clover had finished speaking, she and Sam had walked through the door.

Yuri considered what he was going to do once he saw Otabek. Probably kick him for being so secretive and having such a dramatic reveal moment. That was Yuri’s thing. Maybe he would improvise.

Alex the one left behind with Yuri, with the black hair, interrupted his thoughts. “Who’s your favorite?”

“I don’t have a favorite.”

The girl ignored his obvious lie. “I like the drummer, Scott. The other guys are cute too, but Scott is the cutest of them all.”

Yuri barely listened to her. He tried to hear what was going on behind the closed door next to him. Unfortunately, it was a good door. He could only hear the high voices of the two girls when they laughed or said something loudly. Both occurred pretty often and yet Yuri had no clue was what going on. They were having fun, that he could tell.

Alex was going on and on about a time she and her mother were on holiday with her friends and _their_ mothers – which sounded awful to Yuri – and said something about all the mothers being abducted that Yuri had trouble following. Maybe she had been hallucinating. That would explain a lot.

The girl didn’t seem to care that he wasn’t listening, and when Yuri carefully stepped closer to the door, she didn’t react.

The audible sounds behind the door had stopped. Yuri waited, while trying to avoid eye contact with the guard standing across from him. He, too, seemed to not hear a word from what the girl was saying. Yuri almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

The door swung open and revealed the other two friends. Alex immediately stopped talking and smiled at them.

“Look what I got!” Sam said, waving around a small piece of paper.

Clover beamed. “She actually did it!”

Alex squinted her eyes to see it better. “What is it? An autograph?”

“No, silly,” the redhead giggled, “I asked his number and he gave it to me!”

Yuri tried to remember which guy she was into and came to a realization, a rather surprisingly painful one. Why it hurt exactly, he didn’t know.

“He even promised to meet up next Tuesday.”

That hurt like a knife in the chest. Yuri looked at her in disbelief, stared at her as she was beaming with joy. Something in him broke and suddenly, Yuri had to get away from them, and away from Otabek. He backed up a few paces and stepped on something.

Alex yelped softly, but Yuri didn’t hear it. She had to step aside to avoid Yuri crashing into her.

“Where are you going?” she asked him, speaking loud and clear, as if Yuri had trouble understanding something.

Yuri looked at her, his eyes unfocused. “I need some fresh air.” Which wasn’t completely untrue. “I’ll be right back.” That was obviously a lie.

The girls looked back at him, confused. Before any of them got to say anything else, Yuri had already turned around and ran away.

 

XXX

 

Otabek wondered why it was taking so long for the last two VIPs to come in. One of them had to be Yuri, Otabek knew that, because after the show, he had seen the text Yuri had sent and felt a pang of regret for not telling Yuri about his plan. If anything, him being in a decent band was meant to be a surprise and Otabek trusted Yuri stayed through the whole performance.

But right now, he wasn’t so sure anymore. The two girls that had just left did describe someone that sounded a lot like Yuri, waiting outside the door and he held onto that hope. It had to mean something.

Otabek wondered what Yuri would say to him once he saw him. He seemed like the person to punch people over something like this.

He heard the third girl ask someone where they were going and Jamie got up from his chair to check it out. He looked around the doorway and then turned to Otabek.

“That boy of yours, he’s leaving.”

Before he realized what he was doing, Otabek was up on his feet. He took one last look at his friends, the guilt of abandoning them for a personal matter clear on his face.

“Go.” Everyone shooed him away and off he went.

Otabek muttered a thank you and with that, he was off. Knowing which way Yuri would go to the exit, Otabek had no trouble following him, even though Yuri was nowhere in sight. He was lucky that everyone was already gone, he had no time to be distracted by anyone else right now. Yuri was the most important thing at the moment. There was no reason for him to run, so Otabek wanted to find out why he had.

When he stepped outside, the cold hit Otabek in the face. He was glad he had put on a jacket after the show, since autumn had really started to set in. It had started drizzling sometime during the concert, though Otabek hardly felt the rain hit him.

From the top of the stairs in front at the entrance, Otabek had a decent view on his surroundings and he frantically searched for Yuri’s blond hair and (probably) angry face. Most people close by had either an umbrella or dark hair and Otabek scanned every visible head multiple times to make sure he didn’t miss anyone.

Yuri was nowhere to be seen.

A car honked, grabbing Otabek’s attention. With his eyes on the road, he saw a bus driving by, with a passenger looking at him before turning away.

_Yuri_.

Instead of running after the bus – which was his first instinct – Otabek quickly memorized the bus number and ran back to the rest of the band in the biggest hurry. Reaching the room, he interrupted the conversation going between the black-haired girl and Scott, their drummer. The other two girls were also present, quietly talking to each other.

“Do any of you know where bus 18 stops?” He asked as he gathered his stuff.

The redhead took it upon herself to answer. “If you want to know all the stops I can’t help you, but I do know it stops at the college sports facilities. That’s where most people get off. Or the train station.”

That was enough for Otabek. “Can you guys handle it over here?”

Stephen, the bass player, laughed. “Don’t worry about us, dude, we’ll be fine.”

“I’ll see you at practice.”

“Good luck.”

Otabek grimaced. “Thanks. I’m going to need it.”

Outside, the rain had gotten worse. In the nearly pouring rain, Otabek retrieved his motorcycle from a parking spot nearby the entrance and put on his helmet on his already soaking wet hair. Otabek didn’t care, he had to find Yuri.

Although Otabek only knew the way to other college facilities with the main building – where he had his classes – as a starting point, it didn’t take much longer to get to the right building than usual. That the bus was nowhere in sight wasn’t a huge surprise to Otabek, it was probably long gone and Yuri would be inside somewhere. Now Otabek just had to find him.

In his first days in Detroit, someone told Otabek the sports facilities were only closed from midnight until five in the morning, giving the students, sport majors or not, enough opportunity to work out or practice. It was just after half past ten, so Otabek had enough time to search for Yuri.

But, in a fortunate turn of events, Otabek knew exactly where he needed to go. Yuri had told him, that first time in the café, where he practiced and even the way to get there. Otabek took a second to remember what Yuri had told him and was on his way there.

The ballet studio was located in the west wing of the main building and when Otabek arrived (after getting lost more than once), light was shining through the open door into the badly lit hallway.

A song was playing that Otabek didn’t recognize and he peaked around the corner carefully, so he wouldn’t be discovered instantly. Next to the door were Yuri’s sneakers and a purple jacket with his phone on top, playing the music.

Yuri wasn’t paying attention to anything aside from his own moving body. His bare feet were taking Yuri through the entire studio, sometimes lifting a leg as far as his pants could take it, while other times he was doing pirouettes or gracefully tapping to the music. Yuri moved his arms in all directions, from up to down, making a circle with them, having them touch the ground while bowing. Basically, he made every move Otabek recognized from a play he’d seen as a child and more.

Yuri didn’t let the tightness of his pants or his exposed back stop him. It didn’t reduce his flexibility or his grace either.

Otabek was afraid that speaking would break Yuri’s concentration and thereby end the spell that kept him going, so he silently watched him dance around the room, half in the shadows.

At one point, long after the playlist had ended and his shirt was clinging to him from sweating, Yuri’s face showed visible signs of fatigue and sweat rolled down his neck into his shirt. By that time Yuri had been going on for an hour, and his eyes, previously either cast down or closed, opened and Yuri looked at a mirrored wall and saw Otabek in the reflection, leaning against the doorframe, eyes on Yuri.

Yuri’s surprise turned into anger within a heartbeat and he stomped his raised foot down. “Why are you here? You shouldn’t be here.”

Otabek, who knew he indeed wasn’t supposed to be here, wasn’t sure how to react. “Why not?”

“Shouldn’t you be entertaining your fans right now?” Yuri spat. “Pretty sure that redhead couldn’t wait to get her hands on you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Otabek frowned.

“You don’t? Then I’ll tell you what I’m talking about. That girl is as much into you as coffee by itself is too bitter to drink. Her goal was to get into your pants and you give her your number and promised to meet up with her? That’s basically you agreeing to let her get into your pants.” Yuri’s face was stormy with a huge chance of thunder.

“Yuri, she was interested in following the same major as me, nothing else.” Otabek sounded more defensive than he originally intended. He also was afraid that using Yuri’s nickname would make things worse. But in his mind, he agreed with Yuri that the girl’s excuse was a little lame. He was just trying to be nice to her, in case she really had good intentions. And even if she didn’t, it was good to be nice to her anyway.

Yuri raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms. “Are you really that blind?”

“I don’t know, am I?” Yuri wasn’t calming down and Otabek didn’t feel like staying calm much longer if that didn’t change soon.

Yuri pursed his lips. “If you need to be told, you certainly are.”

“Why did you run?” Otabek changed the subject, afraid Yuri would just throw more insults at him.

Yuri stared at him for a moment, coming up with a reason why. “I decided I don’t need people like you in my life.”

“People like me?”

“Yeah, people like you. I bet you give your number to every girl who asks for it and meets up with them until you drop them like a stone a few weeks later and leave them heartbroken.”

That sounded a bit farfetched to Otabek. “And you base that on the one time I give someone my number and we agreed to see each other once?”

“Yes. Obviously. Unless you have any other examples to speak of.”

“No, I don’t,” Otabek sighed. “I think you’re very wrong about me, Yuri.”

“Of course you do. No one believes they’re _that guy_.”

“You haven’t even known me for a full semester, so who are you to judge me? And besides,” Otabek took a few steps closer to Yuri, who backed into the mirrored wall, “Who are you to judge me? You’re not my mother. Or my boyfriend.”

Yuri flushed and he looked away. “No, I’m not.”

“Even if you were,” Otabek went on, “you would be unable to stop me from hanging out with people I want to hang out with.”

“That’s…” Yuri didn’t finish his sentence. He seemed really uncomfortable under Otabek’s gaze and looked away.

“Yuri.” Otabek took two last steps and was now directly in front of Yuri, who refused to meet his eyes. “You want to know what I think?”

“No.”

“I think you’re jealous.” Otabek said it anyway.

Yuri practically snorted. “I’m not jealous of you.”

“I never said that.” Otabek stepped back to give Yuri some space. And to be less intimidating, since that wasn’t his goal in the first place. “But if that’s what you think, I think it might be best if I leave you alone for now.”

“You do that.” Yuri was clearly confused about Otabek’s sudden change of heart.

Otabek walked away. He paused at the doorway and looked over his shoulder. “I hope you change your opinion about me. I really do. Think about what I said.”

“Don’t wait up for it.”

Otabek looked at him with a sad look in his face one last time and with that, he was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

The following Tuesday, Yuri didn’t show up for their shared lecture. Otabek wasn’t surprised. He sat down in his usual row, but felt weirded out when other people sat around him. He had gotten used to the bubble that surrounded Yuri everywhere he went. In the noise that was enveloping him now, he could barely hear his own thoughts. It bothered him more than he liked to admit.

Even Celestino seemed surprised Yuri wasn’t there. Despite his undisguised disinterest in the course, Yuri had been present all lectures and his absence was very noticeable.

Otabek at least was able to block out the looks he got thrown his way. The past few weeks, he’d gotten quite a number of weird looks, with him hanging out with Yuri. Even when they were not together, people liked to look at him funnily sometimes. Otabek learned to not care about those people. If they judged him solely for him caring about another person, he wouldn’t care about them.

The lecture, unfortunately, wasn’t one of Otabek’s highlights of his academic career. He was lucky he prepared his classes way in advance and Celestino’s PowerPoint slides were actually really useful, but he couldn’t get Yuri out of his mind, especially the way he had looked so betrayed when he’d first caught sight of Otabek in the mirror.

Meanwhile, Celestino was happily talking about some Dutch composer, who composed music for the movie Mad Max and a more recent movie, Brimstone, and a whole lot of other movies, while he was relatively unknown among the public. Celestino spoke about how that composer was influenced by other composers and others who were influenced by his music. Moving on to something else, Celestino played a soundtrack and asked the students to say where it was from.

The trick was that Celestino had picked various pieces of music that sounded very much like another song. He wanted to teach everyone that even the most famous music composers sometimes copied from others, to the point of copyright violation.

Otabek didn’t hear a thing he said. At the end of the lecture, his notebook was painfully empty and with a sigh, he put it away and prepared himself for his meeting with Sam. After his argument with Yuri, Otabek was looking forward to it even less than he already had. He promised himself that he would get out of this ordeal as fast as he could.

Sam was already at the café where they had agreed to meet up. It was the same café he had taken Yuri to when Yuri had given him his notebook. She waved at him and much to his annoyance, she had picked the same seats he and Yuri had occupied the first time they were there. As if his day couldn’t get any worse.

“I was a little early, so I got myself a drink already.” Sam explained, holding up an almost empty cup.

Otabek wondered how long she had been waiting for him. He excused himself to get a drink first and asked the barista.

“An hour, maybe longer. She was here with a different drink when my shift started and got this one about half an hour ago.”

Otabek shook his head with a soft laugh. “Our definitions of ‘a little early’ are completely different.” He handed the barista money and received his drink. “Thank you.”

“Anytime, dude.” The barista turned to help the next costumer, but he remembered something. “By the way, where’s your boyfriend?”

Otabek felt his cheeks heat up. “Boyfriend?”

“Yeah, blond dude, about your height, eyes light up whenever you enter his view, you two were very much inseparable the past few weeks. That boyfriend.”

Otabek gave him a sad, telling smile. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Oh, sorry to hear that.” The barista laughed awkwardly. “I’ll be rooting for you though.”

Otabek raised his drink. “Cheers.”

“What was that about?” Sam inquired after Otabek had sat down across the table.

“We have some classes together and he wanted to thank me for helping him out last week with a problem he had in one of them.” Otabek lied without a shred of guilt.

Sam nodded approvingly. “I see. You’re so helpful.”

Otabek shrugged. “Not really.”

“And modest too!”

Otabek’s eyebrow twitched slightly. “So, why did you want to meet again? You weren’t very specific on why you were interested in my major.”

Sam blinked. “I wanted to get to know you a little better, that’s all.” She launched into interrogation mode, asking all sorts of questions and telling a lot more about herself than Otabek cared to know.

Otabek pretended to be interested. He smiled and nodded at the appropriate times, answered her questions politely, and sipped from his drink when she was talking about herself. He made sure not to show too much interest in her to avoid any possibility of her thinking he was interested in her in any way past friendship.

That Sam was interested in him was as clear as day. Or as bitter as coffee, as Yuri had said it. Ironically enough, Otabek was drinking his coffee black at the moment.

Sam said something to him, only Otabek wasn’t paying attention. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Sam gestured to him to come closer and Otabek leaned in over the table. “I said my friends and I have been to band concerts like yours quite a few times and we’ve been backstage before, but none of them had agreed to go on a date with any of us.”

Otabek leaned back, his face completely neutral. “Is this a date?”

“You didn’t know?” Sam feigned confusion. “I thought that much was obvious.”

Otabek shook his head. “I genuinely thought you were just interested in my major and nothing else. So, no, this is not a date to me. I don’t like you that way, sorry.”

“Oh.” Sam briefly looked down. “That could still happen though?”

“I don’t think it will.”

“Oh.” She said again. “You like someone else, don’t you?”

“I do,” Otabek confirmed.

“He must be lucky. It’s that kid that ran away, right?”

In embarrassment, Otabek hid his face behind his hands. “Is it really that obvious?”

Sam frowned in an ‘are-you-kidding-me?’ way. “You ran out after him while you technically shouldn’t have and followed him to wherever he went. When Clover and I were with you guys you kept checking the door and your eyes lit up when Clover told you about him waiting to come in.” She smiled. “After you ran out, I already knew I had a slim chance with you, so I just thought I’d give the boy someone to antagonize instead.”

“How do you plan on doing that while he’s not here?” Otabek asked. He played with his empty cup unconsciously.

“I wanted to have a nice afternoon and make my intentions clear, one way or the other. Now that we’ve cleared things up, you can tell him about it if you want.”

“I hope you know you made things much more complicated.”

“My apologies.” Sam bowed her head. “If I knew I didn’t stand a chance sooner, I wouldn’t have tried to get your number. Which I’ll delete by the way,” she added when Otabek opened his mouth.

“Thank you.” Otabek stood. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to set something straight with someone.”

“Good luck.” Sam said to Otabek’s back.

He turned back to her. “Thanks. Will we see you again at one of our concerts?”

“No. My friends and I are only here for a few more days, so you probably won’t see us again.”

“I see.” Otabek gave her a smile, though not particularly a satisfied one. “Despite the commotion you caused, I’d say it was nice to meet you anyway.” He reached out his hand.

Sam shook it. “The same goes for me.”

Otabek let go, turned around and didn’t look back.

Just outside the café, Otabek had two ways to go. Either he would go to Yuri, to explain the situation and apologize, which he doubted would end well, or he would do something more elaborate and then maybe Yuri would listen to him. Most scenarios Otabek could think of were worst case scenarios and he needed the exact opposite of that. Seeing Yuri without a proper plan in mind would be the most disastrous, he decided, so he went the other way.

If Yuri wanted to make up with him, he would have done so already, so he could wait for a few more days, until Otabek had figured out his plan. The gears in his head already turning at full speed, Otabek rushed back to his room, the closest place that had a piano he could use. He had some ideas to work out.

Most people who knew Otabek also knew he played guitar. What the majority didn’t know was that he was actually better at playing piano. Even Yuri had no idea. One of his old housemates from a previous dorm in another city had gotten him a keyboard with headphones, so he could practice all he liked without disturbing anyone in the process. Said housemate also paid for the shipping of the keyboard to his current address. The only thing Otabek had to do for that was promise he would get a mention on Otabek’s Wikipedia page someday. Despite the differences between the keyboard and actual pianos, Otabek used this opportunity to do something he absolutely loved: writing his own music.

Although Otabek was very new to composing, he had been playing piano for a good fifteen years and he knew how to combine certain notes to make them work. By playing a few notes, correcting the timing or a note on a piece of paper, and play the same part again, he worked his way through several minutes of his own composition over the course of several months.

Right now, he had less time than that. A lot less. As soon as he had created what he had in mind, or at least something close to it, Otabek would give it to Yuri. And that had to be as soon as possible, because Otabek missed Yuri incredibly and, if this worked, he needed time to work on part two of the plan.


	6. Chapter 6

“Why am I here?” Yuri wasn’t looking too happy Otabek had asked him to come to the piano room that was in the main university building. “You know I’m busy.”

Otabek knew. He knew since the time Victor and Yuuri had apologized for not being able to come that recital Yuri had in the near future. He never spoke about it though, so Otabek had searched for more information by himself. It was scheduled for the end of February and Yuri was meant to start the whole thing with a solo performance before turning the whole thing in a group effort. It would be held in a fancy theater with a strict dress code and everything. The website he had found also said that repetitions had started the week before, meaning that Yuri was right when he said he was busy.

The first part of his “make-up-with-Yuri” plan consisted of Otabek pouring all his feelings for Yuri into a song he composed himself and hoping Yuri liked it. The second part was convincing Yuuri and Victor, and maybe Yuri’s grandpa too, to come to Yuri’s performance. But, for the second part to happen, Otabek needed a way to obtain any Russian contact information and the easiest (and only) way was through Yuri. And for that, the first part had to be a success.

“You’re here because you need to hear this. It’s my way of an apology,” Otabek explained. “Please take a seat.” He turned around on his bench, his back now facing Yuri, who stood between the piano and the exit.

“I’m fine where I am, thanks.” Yuri deadpanned back to him. 

“Suit yourself. Just… listen and afterwards you can say whatever you want.” Otabek focused on the piano keys, not waiting for an answer.

“I’ll be looking forward to it.”

Otabek ignored Yuri’s sarcasm and took a deep breath. In front of him, he had two sheets with composition scribbles, but he wouldn’t need it. Otabek had everything memorized to the dot.

The music started out soft and playful. Soon, he sped up and the music became darker, the tones lower and slower. In the last part of the music, Otabek returned to the playfulness, but with a slightly dark undertone to it.

Otabek played his last note and as soon as his fingers left the keys Yuri was sitting to his right on the bench.

“Play it again.” Yuri whispered.

Otabek did it without asking why. For a second time, his fingers danced over the piano keys, stringing notes together to make the music he wrote.

While he played, Otabek had the chance to take a peek at Yuri, who was sitting outside the required key range and was following Otabek’s hands as if they were doing magic.

“Is it weird,” Yuri started after Otabek wrapped it up, “that I think I know what you’re saying?”

“I wouldn’t know to be honest,” Otabek admitted, “but if you think it’s about you, then you’re absolutely right.”

“It’s beautiful.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m sorry.” Yuri pressed a key with his right hand, his eyes looking down. “For running out like that and interfering with business that wasn’t my own.” He looked at Otabek through his bangs. “I didn’t have the right to do that.” He pressed another key.

“I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have intruded in your space like that.” Otabek caught on what Yuri was doing and pressed a random key too. Together they mashed a song together.

“About that… You were right.”

“What did I say again?” Otabek refrained himself from smiling. He had a good idea of what Yuri was talking about.

Yuri shot him a look like he knew what Otabek was thinking. “I was jealous. Only when you said it I realized I was. I just thought I was jealous of you, while in reality I was jealous of her. I just didn’t know how to say it,” he said slowly.

Those were the magic words. He couldn’t _not_ forgive Yuri after Yuri pouring his heart out. Otabek threw his free arm over Yuri’s shoulders and pulled him closer, causing Yuri to stop playing. He placed a soft kiss on Yuri’s hair. “I’ve been wanting to do this.”

Yuri tried to turn his head to look at Otabek but failed. “What? Kiss my hair?”

Otabek hummed. “Actually, I had a hug in mind, but yes, I’ve wanted to kiss you too.” Otabek was glad Yuri couldn’t see his face. He had the most stupid grin plastered all over it.

“That’s such an embarrassing thing to say.” Yuri commented as he carefully put his arms around Otabek’s waist and hid his face in Otabek’s shoulder. “I thought I was going to lose you over this.” Yuri said in his shoulder, barely audible, with a hint of fear.

“If you want to get rid of me you need to try harder.” Otabek laughed.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Otabek could almost feel Yuri smile. “You really are a Care Bear, aren’t you? All huggy and everything.”

“I suppose so, yes.”

“It’s a stupid name.”

“It wasn’t my idea.”

“I know, I know.” Yuri remained silent for a second. “I don’t understand why you would care about someone like me.”

“Not someone like you, just you,” Otabek corrected him. “And I like you because you have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen, your smile takes my breath away every single time I see it, and it’s cute how you think it’s not obvious you care about things when you say you don’t. Let me tell you: it’s very obvious.” Otabek pulled Yuri even closer.

“Dammit, Beka, you make my reasoning sound stupid.”

Otabek held in a sigh of relief hearing Yuri call him that. “What’s your reasoning then?”

Yuri muttered something.

“What did you say?”

“I said I couldn’t stand _not_ being around you,” Yuri mumbled louder.

Otabek smiled. “That’s good enough for me.”

“I like the way you smile too,” Yuri added as an afterthought. “And you smell nice.”

“Thank you, I think.” Otabek’s smile grew wider.

“I’m sorry, about a lot of stuff.”

“Don’t be. In the end, it brought us here now and that’s what matters.” Otabek told him. “No need to be sorry anymore.”

They sat there for a good ten minutes until Otabek’s started to ache from the awkward position. Yuri, probably more flexible than Otabek, hadn’t moved. Otabek reached out with his left hand and played a few notes.

Yuri’s face reappeared. “I know that song. I played that once.”

“You’ve been taught to play the piano?”

“I said that once, didn’t I? My grandpa taught me Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on some rainy afternoon a really long time ago. I don’t remember how to do it anymore though.”

“Let me teach you.” Otabek kept his right arm around Yuri and Yuri let his left arm rest around Otabek’s waist. Otabek’s left hand taught while Yuri’s right hand learned the simple notes.

Yuri laughed spontaneously. “I’d forgotten how easy this was.” He pressed the correct keys without Otabek’s help.

“Just wait until you’re expected to play all the old songs. Those are a bit more advanced than this one.”

Yuri pulled a face. “Like I don’t know that. I have to dance to that music, you know.”

“Fair enough.”

Yuri stood all of a sudden. “Speaking of dancing, I need to make a call. I’ll be right back, okay?”

Otabek nodded.

“In the meantime, play some more piano or something.” Yuri suggested, waving at the piano.

“Yeah, yeah,” Otabek shooed him away, “I’ll enjoy myself in your absence.”

“I’ll make it quick,” Yuri promised.

He returned a few minutes later with a smug grin plastered on his face and it wasn’t because Otabek had been playing while he was waiting for Yuri’s return.

“Am I going to like what you’re about to say?” Otabek frowned.

“How do you feel like being on a stage?”

“Not my favorite place to be, but I’ve performed for an audience before. You know that. Why do you ask?”

“Even with a piano?” Yuri’s grin grew wider.

“I have. It’s been a while though.”

“And how do you feel about being on the same stage as me?”

Otabek’s suspicion rose. “Yura, cut to the chase.”

“I might have just asked the director of the recital I have planned in a few months if you could play and he might have said yes.”

Otabek gaped. “And you thought that was a good idea because?”

“I like it,” Yuri said decidedly, “and I mean really, really like it.”

“Sorry to burst that bubble, but it’s not finished yet. I barely had enough time to make this for you.”

“I’m sure we’ll manage.” Yuri shrugged, still grinning.

“Of course you say that, you’re not the one who has to compose their own music, along with practicing three different instruments and doing homework, including that essay we should be working on together.” At that moment, Otabek definitely felt the pressure of all his responsibilities.

“Only I have to create a dance inspired by not yet completed music, so I think we’re in this together.” Yuri pointed out. “Except that essay, I’m still not going to work on that.”

Otabek rolled his eyes. “I can’t say no anymore, can I?”

“Nope.”

“If you’re so inspired by this, show me what moves you have in mind.”

“I have a better idea. Do you have any sweatpants?” Yuri didn’t wait for the answer and pulled Otabek from the bench.

“Why? Where are we going?”

“Getting those sweatpants. You’re going to dance along as well.”

Yuri seemed determined to teach Otabek a move or two. After changing in more appropriate clothes, Otabek was led to a ballet studio he recognized. In his memory, he could still see Yuri dance without noticing anything around him.

He shook himself loose from the memory. “Do you always dance like that?”

“Like what?” Yuri was confused.

It took Otabek a second to realize Yuri had no idea what he was talking about. “Like you’re the only breathing thing in the world where no one can touch you.”

“Not very often and only at nights.” Yuri shrugged. “At other times I have to do it with only the normal amount of concentration.” He got out his phone and selected a song. “Life is much less boring without music,” he winked. He kicked off his shoes and took off his coat and instructed Otabek to do the same. Then he motioned for Otabek to follow him.

“First, I need to check how flexible you are. Can you do this?” Yuri stood next to one of the mirrored walls and was holding on to the bar next to it. He put his feet in a straight line with his heels stuck together and bent his knees.

Otabek tried, he really did. He couldn’t even get his feet in the same position as Yuri.

Yuri laughed at seeing him struggle.

“You’re enjoying this way too much.”

Yuri stifled another laugh when Otabek almost fell over. “Let me help you.” He kneeled before Otabek and gently grabbed his foot.

“What are you doing?”

Yuri looked up with a smile. “Checking to see how far you can go.”

As it turned out, not so far. Otabek had his feet in a wide angle, but nowhere near the position Yuri had showed.

“It feels like you’re mocking me.”

“No, this should be good enough. Keep your feet like that,” Yuri instructed as he took the same position as before, with much more grace than Otabek.

“I work out occasionally, but that doesn’t require me being a noodle,” Otabek said, “and you know I’m not an athlete, or a gymnast.”

“I figured that out a long time ago.” Yuri winked at him.

“I’d rather have you dance for me.”

“Do this for me and I’ll dance for you, okay?”

Otabek was less grumpy after that. Yuri showed him he had to bend his knees and he actually managed that, although while gripping the bar tightly, with the risk of falling over if he didn’t.

“And up,” Yuri took Otabek’s hand and together they rose. “Want to do it again?”

“Will that make it any easier?”

Yuri breathed a laugh. “If it makes you feel any better, you’re still better than my grandpa.”

Otabek laughed too. “And if that’s your way of cheering me up, you’re doing a terrible job.”

“Alright, sit down then.” Yuri waved him away. “No need to injure yourself, old man. I can see having you do anything more would be impossible anyway.”

Otabek would have looked offended if he hadn’t been smiling. “You know I’m only two years older than you.”

“Hush now, old man, you’re going to break a hip if you keep standing there.” Yuri showed a cheeky grin again and Otabek followed his command without further comments.

Yuri grabbed his phone to change songs. “By the way,” he said, “do you have a name yet for your music piece? The booklets are going to be printed soon and they need to know the name.”

Otabek shook his head. “I barely managed this, I don’t have a name yet.”

“Can I come up with something?” Yuri put on his thinking face. “I’d go for something that sounds really cool.”

“Maybe I’ll call it ‘Idiot’, that sounds exactly like you.” Otabek snorted.

Yuri’s mouth fell open, then he laughed. “Pretty sure you can come up with something better than that.”

“We’ll see about that.” Otabek sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall. “Do you have something in mind already for your performance?”

“I can show you when you have it recorded. It’s pretty useless if I know what I’m doing and you’re not.”

Otabek put up a finger. “Hold that thought.” He got out his phone and looked something up. “It’s not exactly the same music I played today, but there are no major differences,” he warned as he started up the song.

“Nice, old man, it looks like you’re an exception with technology.”

“Next time you make an old man joke I’ll throw one of your shoes at you. I have a good aim, mind you.”

“I’d like to see you try.” Yuri smirked. “Old man.”

A shoe came flying in his direction. Yuri gracefully evaded and started showing his moves.


	7. Chapter 7

Yuri entered Otabek’s changing room just as he was finishing up a phone call.

“Yeah, I’ll see you afterwards. Wait for me in the lobby. Bye.” Yuri noticed Otabek was speaking in Russian.

“Who was that?” Yuri asked when Otabek had ended the call.

“I’ve invited a friend to listen to my play,” Otabek responded, letting his eyes go over Yuri’s outfit.

“I didn’t know you had other friends.”

“I could introduce you if you want to.”

Yuri shrugged. “I guess.”

“I think you’ll like them.” Otabek stood, giving Yuri a nice view of the fancy suit he was wearing. His hair was slicked back in an attempt to make it look more formal and he was wearing a forest green jacket, gray waistcoat, white shirt, a black bow tie, and black dress pants. Mostly dark colors, unlike Yuri, who was wearing a mostly white one-piece outfit, with white feathers covering his shoulders and black feathers circling around his waist and hips.

“You look cute in that suit,” Yuri commented.

“Oh please, I just want to change back into my own clothes.” Otabek uncomfortably pulled on the bowtie he was wearing. 

“You should stop that and not worry about your appearance so much; it suits you.” Yuri laughed at his own joke.

Otabek groaned.

“I know you’re nervous, but you’ve played the same song hundreds of times now and you haven’t screwed up then, so you won’t screw up now.”

Otabek let himself be pulled closer by Yuri. “I’ve played hundreds of different variations of the same song. How are you so sure I’ll play the right one?”

Yuri looked him in the eyes. “Because I trust you.”

Otabek suddenly enveloped Yuri in a hug. “Thank you.”

Yuri returned the hug and quietly breathed in the smell of Otabek’s new suit.

“Your hair looks nice today,” Otabek mumbled.

“My hair always looks nice, thanks for noticing. Only today is special, so don’t fuck it up. I won’t have time to redo it.” It was true. The girl who had done his hair had taken more than thirty minutes to create a small braid at the side of Yuri’s head and put it in a ponytail, all while complimenting his hair every few seconds. Yuri liked it and had paid attention to what she had done, so he could recreate it later.

“I wouldn’t dare.” Otabek laughed softly, right in Yuri’s ear.

Someone knocked on Otabek’s door and one of the crew appeared, leaving the two no time to separate. “Oh there you are, Yuri. It’s time to put on your ballet shoes. Both you and Otabek are going up in ten minutes.”

Otabek gave her a thanks from the both of them and she closed the door behind her.

“Shit, that was awkward.” Otabek loosened his grip around Yuri.

“It could be worse.” Yuri didn’t wait until Otabek asked what he meant with that. He released Otabek from his embrace and instead held his face. It was something he had wanted to do for a long time, only the timing had always felt off.

Otabek somehow wasn’t surprised Yuri was about to kiss him and he didn’t pull back as Yuri connected their lips in a clumsy manner. It was an awkward, open-eyed first kiss.

It only lasted two seconds and Yuri felt his face burning. “I’m sorry, that was –”

“Yura,” Otabek interrupted him, “there’s no need to apologize.”

Yuri gave him a shaky smile. “Sorry.”

Otabek held Yuri’s hand and kissed the top of his fingers. “Go, before I mess up your hair.” He said with a wink. “I’ll be fine.”

Yuri laughed, more than happy, and left Otabek alone to make the final preparations for the big show.

They saw each other again before they had to get on the stage.

“I’ll pay you back for that,” Otabek whispered, a mischievous glint in his eyes, Yuri noticed.

Yuri smirked in return. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”

The same girl from before now grabbed Otabek’s arm to get his attention. “It’s time.”

“How do I look?” Otabek asked Yuri.

“Like a Prince Charming.”  Yuri plucked and invisible speck of dust from Otabek’s green jacket. “Now go, you can’t keep your audience waiting.”

“I’ll be on the first row afterwards, okay?” Otabek grabbed Yuri’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Okay.” Yuri squeezed back. “Now go.”

Otabek stepped forward and disappeared behind the curtains. Yuri could hear the welcoming applause Otabek received.

“Are you ready too?” The girl was back again.

Yuri turned his head to her, his eyes filled with concentration. “Definitely.”

 She smiled. “Okay then. Have fun.”

Yuri took that as his cue to stand between the curtains and wait for Otabek to start playing.

The clapping died down seconds later. Yuri imagined Otabek sitting down and his fingers caressing the piano keys. He could almost feel it.

The first notes reached Yuri’s ears and as rehearsed, he stepped out on the stage at the third note, right on time. He appreciated the silence of the crowd, he didn’t want to miss one note Otabek played.

During his dance, the pirouettes and the jumps, Yuri remembered the story Otabek had explained him, his story told through music. Otabek had managed to fit an entire story in just a few – unfinished – minutes of music.

Yuri remembered the story clearly. There was a small bird, one who loved flying more than anything in the world. He went to as many places as he could, leaving his parents and siblings to go on wild adventures. On his journeys, he saw mountains and the sea as far as his eyes could see. Always, he would return at the end of the day, back to his family and tell them what he had seen.

On one cold morning, when the dew was ready to drink off the leaves and flowers, another bird, a bigger one, approached the small bird. He asked the small bird that if he liked adventures so much, wouldn’t he be interested in flying to the moon? The small bird was always interested in new adventures and decided to fly to the moon after the sun had set. When the time was there, the small bird filled his belly, held a berry in his claw (there were no trees high in the sky, after all) and said goodbye to his family.

He took a deep breath, spread his wings, and flew up. The moon was high in the sky already and it felt welcoming to the small bird. Higher and higher he flew and slowly, so very slowly, the moon came closer.

After many hours, when the sky had become completely black and he was past the clouds, the small bird got hungry. While staying airborne, he ate the berry from his claw before continuing his flight.

Long before the small bird had reached the moon, his wings had gotten tired and because of the cold air that surrounded his tiny body, he couldn’t feel his claws anymore. He pushed on though and finally, after countless hours, he had reached space.

But the small bird was so tired he couldn’t fly anymore. All he wanted was being safe in his warm nest, with a berry or two for dinner. He flapped his wings three more times and then he simply didn’t have the energy anymore and stopped.

Immediately, he fell downwards, back to earth. He fell faster and faster, much quicker than he had ever climbed and soon, too soon, the small bird was able to distinguish the trees in the forest in the morning light of the sun and not long after that, he even saw the tree he lived in.

He tried to fly again, or at least float through the air, not crashing down on the ground. He was closing down on the treetops when he fell on something soft. He heard a laugh and the small bird turned his head to see he was on the back of the larger bird. He kept chuckling all the way down to the riverbed, where the birds landed.

Finally back on the ground, the small bird rolled off of the bigger bird’s back and promptly fell asleep. He woke with the light of a late sunset. He was back in his nest, surrounded by his family. It turned out, as they told them, that they had been very worried about the small bird and they had been waiting for his return. He hadn’t realized the danger of flying up so high, they said. If something had happened no one would have known.

The small bird got sad, because his family was of course right. Also, even worse than the danger he had been in, the small bird had felt incredibly lonely on his journey to the moon. He promised, in front of his parents and siblings that he wouldn’t try again anytime soon. Instead, he would find a friend and together they would go to distant places, and someday, they would go up together and they would reach the moon.

The small bird’s parents understood the adventurous spirit their child had, since they too had had their adventures, and agreed that his suggestion would be the best compromise.

The small bird, still exhausted but very happy, fell back asleep, impatient for the next day to come.

After Otabek had finished telling, Yuri admitted that that wasn’t exactly what he had been thinking about. It did feel like a journey of some sort, Yuri could hear the travels of someone – or something – and while that journey ended in a failure, the traveler had learned new things and had figured out that there are some things you aren’t meant to do by yourself or in a hurry.

Otabek had given him full marks for that explanation and told him the similarities between Yuri and the bird. At first, Yuri didn’t get it, until Otabek went into detail. He said it had something to do with the mindset Yuri had and how his theoretical moon was something he would be unable to reach without any outside help.

Yuri, who understood the story now, thought the small bird’s adventure was funny. He asked if it ever reached the moon, to which Otabek had given him a mysterious smile. He was promised that was a story for another time.

Even if Yuri couldn’t relate to the story from Otabek’s point of view, he agreed it had a title well chosen. Otabek hadn’t needed to explain that to him, it was really obvious. _In Search of the Moon_ was a story about figuring out a part of yourself while discovering a whole new world outside of yourself. Yuri liked it.

His mind signaled he had to start the last sets of jumps. He trusted his body and jumped with his eyes closed. It went so well that Yuri himself was almost surprised. He landed one last time and stood in his finishing stance the second Otabek played his final note. Two seconds after, the applause of the audience reached his ears.

Otabek was immediately at his side and together they bowed once. He gave Yuri a quick wink before leaving the stage. The show would continue.

The moment Otabek was gone, the orchestra set in the music for the rest of the show. It felt more boring somehow, the orchestra, with its string instruments and flutes and other instruments, played beautifully and yet it lacked the magic Otabek weaved through his music. Maybe Yuri was biased about it somehow.

It felt like the whole show was over in a heartbeat. One moment Yuri saw Otabek leaving the stage, the next he was bowing in front of the stage with his fellow dancers. As the main dancer, Yuri was handed a bouquet of flowers. He bowed again and searched for Otabek with his head turned up to the audience. He couldn’t find him in time.

He left the stage and the first thing Yuri did was throw off his shoes. His legs were killing him. He walked back to his backstage room barefoot, holding the flowers awkwardly.

There was already a vase in his room, filled with water. He put the bouquet in the vase and did his cooling down stretches. He and Otabek had agreed to wait half an hour to meet each other, so most of the people would have been gone by the time Yuri came out, unless either of them texted the other about a change of plans.

About fifteen minutes later, when Yuri had already changed into something more comfortable – but still fancy – and was massaging his sore feet, he received a text from Otabek, telling him that he wanted Yuri to talk to some important people, down in the lobby.

Yuri thought about ignoring it. He could pretend he didn’t see it until later, since he absolutely didn’t feel like meeting ‘important’ people at this moment. Yuri was tired and all he wanted to do was sleep. Preferably with Otabek somewhere close by. 

In the end, because it was Otabek asking, Yuri was in the lobby two minutes later. Otabek had told him where he was and it was easy to spot him in the corner near the grand stairs. He was talking to someone who had his back turned to Yuri.

Yuri approached them, swiftly avoiding everyone who wanted to talk to him at the same time. Finally, Otabek spotted him.

“Hey,” Yuri greeted him, “you played better than at any moment during practice.”

Otabek nodded as a thanks. “And you danced better than anything I’ve ever seen before.” He gave Yuri a warm smile. “I loved every second of it.”

“You couldn’t have seen me dance, you idiot.”

The stranger, who Yuri was now standing next to, cleared his throat.

Otabek’s attention immediately turned back to him. “Ah yes, as I was saying, I’d love to meet her someday. His whole family, to be honest. It sounds like he has a happy family.”

“I’m sure they’re gonna love you.” The stranger spoke in an awfully familiar voice.

Just as Yuri wanted to take a look at the not-so-stranger’s face, he was attacked from behind and his assailant covered his eyes.

“Guess who!” Another voice he knew from a place far away from here sounded in his ear.

“Get off of me, you idiot.” Yuri pulled the hands away with so much force Victor had no time to resist. He did keep the arms hanging over Yuri’s shoulders though. The first person Yuri saw was Otabek, who was smiling at him.

“I told you I would get my revenge,” he said with a grin.

“It’s impossible that you planned this as your revenge.” Yuri stared at him.

Otabek shrugged. “Who knows?”

Yuri turned around and stood next to Otabek, now looking at his surprise guests.

Victor and Yuuri were wearing matching suits and according to Yuri, they hadn’t changed a bit.

“The last time I saw you wearing a suit was on your wedding,” he told Yuuri. “Please don’t tell me that you only have that one suit, this one looks oddly the same.”

Yuuri laughed shortly. “We bought these for the occasion. Besides, the wedding was five years ago.”

“I made sure to pick the ties,” Victor said proudly.

“Of course you did,” Yuri laughed.

Yuuri gave both of them an offended look.

“Wait.” Yuri squinted his eyes while he looked at Victor’s face. “Is it just me or did you get more wrinkles since last time I saw you? Oh no, that’s just your receding hairline, never mind.”

Yuuri had to physically stop Victor from attacking him again, this time for real. He whispered something in Victor’s ear. That seemed to work, as Victor calmed down and returned to his usual, cheerful, self.

Yuri shuddered at the thought of what Yuuri might have said to him.

Yuuri looked at Victor’s empty hands. “I thought you were going to get us drinks; where are they?”

Victor swirled around and two glasses of wine magically appeared in his hands. “I wanted to surprise Yurio first.”

“Of course you did, Victor.” Yuuri sounded as if he was talking to a small child. Victor didn’t seem to notice.

“But, Yurio, long time no see!”

Yuri had the need to touch the pair, to feel their realness. “I can’t believe you two are actually here. Since when? And why didn’t you say anything?”

Victor was the one who answered. “Well, we got a call from a certain someone and he said you really wanted us here today” – Yuri started to protest, but Victor silenced him – “so I pulled a few extra strings and could get some time off after all. We arrived yesterday morning. Yuuri was afraid you might somehow find us, so we stayed inside our hotel for the past two days. Don’t worry though, we had plenty of fun!”

Yuri groaned at the mental image Victor had given him. He looked up at Otabek. “So that’s why you couldn’t meet me for practice yesterday morning.”

“I had other things to take care off.”

“Otabek was the one who took care of everything, actually,” Yuuri added, who then turned his attention to Otabek. “For which we still have to thank you. Is there anything we can do to pay you back?”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Otabek responded, “but I did all of this to surprise Yura, it’s not about me. I don’t need anything.”

Victor pointed a finger at him. “Unfortunately for you, I – we – insist. You’re free to come up with anything during out stay here.”

Otabek blinked slowly. “Okay.”

Yuri had an idea. “I know something you can give him.”

“Oh? Do tell.” Victor was interested.

“Yoga classes.”

Otabek punched Yuri in his side before he had even time to burst out laughing, which he did anyway.

Victor and Yuuri shared a confused glance.

‘Don’t worry about,” Otabek reassured them, “he’s just saying weird things because he’s tired.”

“No I’m not.” With the greatest timing, Yuri had to stifle a yawn.

“See?”

Yuri stuck out his tongue to him. “So, what do you think? Was I any good?” His eyes flicked from Yuuri to Victor and back.

“Yurio, you were perfect,” Yuuri assured him. “And you, Otabek, are a very talented pianist. You showed you have a lot of love for playing the piano and it was impossible to not be impressed by your skills.”

“Thank you so much.” Otabek bowed awkwardly. When he stood up straight, his eyes shone with contained pride.

“How’s that dog of yours? I don’t imagine you’ve brought him with you.”

“Makkachin? No, he’s having fun currently at Georgi’s. Yakov said he couldn’t handle him anymore and Georgi said he had some time to spare.”

“I can imagine. Dude’s getting pretty old.”

“Don’t talk with such disrespect over your father.” Victor chastised him.

“He’s not my father,” Yuri shot back, “and neither are you.”

Victor gasped. Yuuri patted him on the back quietly while trying not to laugh.

Yuri showed a beaming smile towards Otabek. “I still can’t believe you had these two fly over to Detroit without my knowledge.”

“Actually,” Otabek smiled mysteriously, “that was not the only surprise.”

Yuri frowned. “What do you mean?”

Otabek signed the pair. “Gentlemen, if you’d please.”

 “Yuuri, did you hear that? He called us gentlemen.”

“Yes, Victor, I heard him and yes, you want to welcome Otabek to the Russian family, though I think Yurio already did that.” Yuuri spoke in the same tone again.

“Guys, get on with it. Don’t leave me in the dark here.” Yuri said impatiently. If Otabek had another surprise for him, those two idiots shouldn’t delay it any longer than necessary.

“Okay, okay, are you ready?” Yuuri asked with a laugh.

“Not sure what for, but yeah, definitely.”

Victor and Yuuri nodded to each other and stepped aside to reveal someone standing behind them.

Yuri blinked. “Grandpa?” He automatically switched to Russian, since his grandfather didn’t understand English very well. Besides, all five of them spoke Russian, Yuuri included.

Nikolai Plisetsky was leaning heavily on a cane and he looked older than Yuri remembered, but his eyes were very much alive and currently filled with tears. “Yuratchka, I am so proud of you.”

Instead of jumping him, Yuri almost tackled him. Even then, Nikolai had trouble not falling over and had to use Otabek – who rushed to his aid – to keep standing.

“I didn’t know you were coming.” Yuri could feel his eyes also fill with tears. “I talked to you three days ago and you didn’t say a thing!”

“I promised a friend of mine to keep it a secret.” Nikolai gently patted Yuri’s hair and attempted a wink. “It was difficult, but we both wanted it to be a surprise for you.”

Yuri looked at Otabek, who was standing to the side, looking sheepishly awkward.

“Yura, I want to introduce you to my friend,” Otabek said.

Yuri let go of his grandpa and threw his arms around Otabek. In return, Otabek put one arm around Yuri’s back and with the other, he stroked the braid in the blond hair, still careful not to mess it up.

“I don’t know how I deserve you, or how to pay you back.” Yuri said in Otabek’s shoulder, soft enough so only Otabek could hear.

“I have an idea. For you to repay me, I mean.”

“Hm?”

Otabek held Yuri’s head so that he could look at his face. “Keep smiling for me.”

And Yuri smiled. When he did, the tears flowed from his eyes.

That apparently didn’t seem to matter to Otabek, who kissed him. In front of Nikolai, Yuuri and Victor.

Their second kiss was not any less awkward than the first one, with three of the four people Yuri loved most watching, but at least now he had enough time to close his eyes and enjoy the feeling of Otabek’s lips against his own.

From somewhere far away, Yuri could hear Yuuri say something that sounded like “See? Family.” And one thing he knew for sure: he wasn’t going to let go of Otabek anytime soon. Or at all, if it were up to him.

Still, it was over too soon. Yuri opened his eyes and found Otabek staring at him.

“You really have the most amazing eyes I have ever seen,” Otabek told him.

“Thanks?” Yuri looked away from Otabek’s intense stare.

Otabek chuckled. “There’s more, but I’ll tell you about that another time. For now,” he looked at Nikolai, “I think you want to spend some time with your grandpa.”

Yuri followed his gaze and saw his grandpa, Victor and Yuuri. Yuuri had actually put a hand in front of Victor’s eyes and was telling him that some things weren’t for a child’s mind yet. Nikolai was acting like he hadn’t seen anything.

“You’ve introduced me to your friend, let me introduce you to my family,” Yuri said with only the slightest twitch at the corner of his mouth. “How long will you stay?” He asked Yuuri, because Victor was swooning over the fact that Yuri had called him family and was in no condition to answer.

“The three of us will stay two weeks, then your grandpa will go home, where he’ll be picked up by either Mila or Yakov, and Victor and I will spend a third week in New York before flying home.” Yuuri said.

“We could take you sightseeing, if you want?” Otabek offered.

“That would be lovely,” Yuuri smiled. “We are going back to the hotel for tonight though; you can’t get anything sensible out of Victor right now.”

“We’ll see you tomorrow.” Otabek promised.

Yuuri wished them a goodnight and pulled Victor along through the now nearly empty hallway and through the door.

“I have a small surprise of my own, Yuratchka.” Nikolai grabbed Yuri’s attention with that. “I left them in my hotel room, because I was afraid they might spoil if they’re not properly cooled.”

Yuri’s eyes widened. “No way. You made pirozhki?”

Nikolai nodded.

Yuri turned to Otabek. “You _have_ to come along. He makes the best pirozhki in all Russia.”

“Don’t you want to catch up with your grandpa without me there?” Otabek showed some reluctance.

“Are you mad? Of course I want to you come with us.” Yuri’s voice was filled with excitement. “Besides, haven’t you heard? You’re family.”

Nikolai chuckled while he slowly walked to the exit. Yuri followed and he pulled a speechless Otabek along.

He still had trouble accepting all of this was real and squeezed Otabek’s hand, who squeezed back and gave him an affectionate smile. Yuri was sure, this had to be the best day of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so THANK YOU FOR READING UNTIL THE END :D Tbh, I had so much fun writing this fic that it got way out of hand (imagine me thinking that it would be around 6k and it ending up being 16k+, because that's _exactly_ what happened OOPS hahahaha)
> 
> Please give all your love to [my artist](http://crying-on-ice.tumblr.com) for this reverse big bang, she deserves the world ♡＼(^▽^)／♡
> 
> Please consider leaving kudos/a comment if you liked this fic ^^~


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